Thursday, 31 December 2015

Sunday, 22 February 2015

Just a quick update.
As you can see I am not publishing lately and there is a reason for that. I have been engaged into a very large project that keeps me busy 7x24 and, unfortunately, away from photography and this blog. I hope that everything will settle down in the next month or two and I can do again what I like the most - take pictures!

Sunday, 21 December 2014

2014 has been a year filled with terrific photo activities. I had an opportunity to use a variety of new cameras, lenses, post processing tools but most of all I enjoyed taking pictures. Here is my quick roundup.

Digital Gear. Back in January Fuji released XT-1, a great addition to their line-up. But after using the camera for couple weeks I decided to keep XPro-1, still love this camera for its original x-trans sensor. Same goes for new Sigma DP2 Quattro, decided to stay with DP2 Merrill. I bought and sold Nikon 800E. Don’t get me wrong, the camera and the image quality are fantastic, just not my type of a camera. I also had an opportunity to try 800E with Zeiss 85/1.4 Otus APO Planar and results were mind blowing.
Digital Post Processing. Iridient Developer remains my # 1 raw converter. Now I am using it not only to process x-trans files but other raw formats as well. I just tried 3.0 beta 4 and was very much impressed with new features and especially with new sharpening algorithm Iridient Reveal. Wow. I think ID3 is also faster now. BTW, Iridient Developer is on sale until December 31st. Other raw converters worth to mention were RawTherapee and LightZone.
Film gear. In 2014 I had two new additions to my camera collection, Yashica Electro 35 GTN and Hasselblad 500 C/M. Both are great. And the only one addition to my legacy lens collection was MD Zoom35~70 1/3.5. This lens is absolutely fantastic.
Film Post Processing. Not too many changes here, Agfa Rodinal 1:50 is my #1 developer. If you don’t want to bother with DIY development, then IlfordLab is highly recommended for B&W, excellent service.

Plans for 2015? My film journey continues. Film still has a lot to offer, especially with the prices of great cameras and lenses so low and because I simply love artistic qualities of the media. But I didn't abandon digital of course, and planning to try new Sony A7 II soon. Considering my extensive collection of legacy glass this full frame camera with IBIS looks very attractive. I am waiting for new Fuji 140-400mm f4 / 5.6 (?) Super Telephoto and possible XPro1 replacement.

2015 is quickly approaching and I wish you a relaxing holiday season and photographically exciting New Year.

Sunday, 16 November 2014

Lately I am shooting analogue almost exclusively, trying to get unplugged. But since my old trusty iPhone 4s (IOS 8.1) is always with me I decided to try several apps to see if they can be useful for a film photography.

I completely dismissed image manipulating / organizing apps and focused only on those that, supposedly, can help with shooting film. After spending $ and time I have to say that majority of apps are just waste. But not all.
So here is my pick listed in order of typical photo workflow.